Margate charter school closes after failing to pay rent

Another charter school in Broward has closed, this time for failing to pay its rent.

On Tuesday, School Board members accepted the voluntary termination of College Bound Academy of Excellence, a school for sixth to 12thgrades that opened this year in Margate.

The charter school closed its doors to 60 students early last week but failed to notify district officials beforehand.

Jody Perry, director of charter schools management in Broward, said the school's landlord called the district last week and told them the charter company had turned in its keys.

It wasn't until Thursday that the school's founder, Winston Thompson, sent a letter to the district saying the school closed "so that the best options may be made available to the students."

Thompson did not respond to an email or messages left on his cellphone Tuesday.

District officials said some of the school's teachers were not getting paid but did not have information on how much money may be owed.

To date, the school district has paid College Bound Academy $109,000. Charters are privately managed but publicly funded per student enrollment.

Students at College Bound will be enrolled at their neighborhood school or have the option to apply at a magnet program.

College Bound Academy is the third charter to close this month. The School Board terminated Ivy Academy middle and high schools in Fort Lauderdale for failing to provide a permanent and approved facility for its students.

"We've been seeing a concern of this nature going through the state, predominantly in the southern part of the state, with schools that are opening based on a viable application but not having financial wherewithal to follow through," said Perry.

She said the Florida Association of Charter Authorizers, of which she is a member, was developing a proposal to add new safeguards to the charter school application that would ensure financial stability for the first year.